This invention relates to optical switches, and particularly, though not exclusively, to such switches for transmission of high-speed high-volume optical data over long-haul, metro and access networks.
MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical System) switch arrays up to 1156xc3x971156 have recently begun to appear on the market. These switches are based on MEMS technology and are based on 3D-switch design. Other known switching technologies are based on, for example, Liquid Crystals, xe2x80x9cChampagnexe2x80x9d or Bubble Switches, Thermo-Optical Switching (see, e.g., the paper xe2x80x9cScalable Micro Mechanical Optical Crossconnectsxe2x80x9d by Roland Ryf, David T. Neilson, and C. Randy Giles in Proc. SPIE Vol. 4455, p. 51-58, xe2x80x9cMicro- and Nano-Optics for Optical Interconnection and Information Processingxe2x80x9d, Editors Mohammad R. Taghizadeh, Hugo Thienpont and Ghassan E. Jabbour; and OMM Technical note: OMM 16xc3x9716 photonic switch brief, Rev. 3/02).
The objective in such switching is to attain very large arrays of switches for switching between input channels and output channels. In known state of the art optical switches, n2 moveable mirrors are required, e.g. a dual gimbal design, that are moveable to n2xe2x88x921 different positions, n being the number of channels necessary to connect all input channels to all output channels. Independent of the technology, massive parallel switching is a challenge, both in terms of the complex manufacturing processes for the switch matrices, and in the processes required to assemble the complete optical switch.
However, state of the art known optical switches require a large number of moveable mirrors, which present a significant challenge for the manufacturing process.
A need therefore exists for an optical switch and method therefor wherein the abovementioned disadvantage(s) may be alleviated.
In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a rotatable mirror optical switch arrangement comprising:
an input array of light sources;
an output array of light receivers; and
a first rotatable platter of mirror elements arranged between the input array and the output array whereby light from a desired one of the input array of light sources is reflected via the rotatable platter to a desired one of the output array of light receivers dependent on rotation of the first rotatable platter.
In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a method for rotatable mirror optical switching comprising:
providing an input array of light sources;
providing an output array of light receivers;
providing a first rotatable platter of mirror elements arranged between the input array and the output array; and
transmitting light from a desired one of the input array of light sources by reflection via the rotatable platter to a desired one of the output array of light receivers dependent on rotation of the first rotatable platter.